AI
by LittleDarlingEve
Summary: AU Slash Virgil/Richie/Hotstreak, Ebon/Shiv. Summary: Virgil Hawkins is an average 19 year old college student with a special computer that has an A.I. named Gear living within it. As their friendship grows, Gear wishes to become human...
1. The AI Named Gear

Disclaimer: WARNING! If you do not like yaoi, or any shape or form of it, DO NOT READ THIS FIC. There will be boy/boy action (not in the first couple of chapters...gotta introduce the characters and such...) and if you likey, you no lookey. Got it? Good! Also, I don't own Static Shock, I just own this fic's idea and stuff like that. All characters belong to Kids WB and DC.

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 1: The A.I. Named Gear**

It was a refreshingly cool summer evening when his package had finally arrived. Virgil Hawkins had waited since the summer for "it" to arrive and now, the day had come. The young man had spent every day of the past summer counting down to the delivery date when he had finally received a notice in the mail. When the delivery man came to his house, it was on a Friday and the delivery couldn't have come any sooner.

Virgil Hawkins was a 19 year old African American student who attended the local community college. Though he could afford to go to any prestigious college due to his straight A grades, he decided to stay close to his family by attending the local community college. The short distance helped him save money for his computer and helped with saving up for his next project: finding an apartment. He had wished that he wouldn't have to depend on his pops so much, but the older Hawkins didn't mind at all.

An excited cry of joy flooded the Hawkins residence as Virgil carried his package up to his room. He placed the box containing his order on the ground and started to open it. He tore off the bubble wrap (which he would save later to pop, as he did have some childish tendencies) and stared dead straight at a computer monitor. It took him a while, but Virgil had finally purchased his own computer. He had worked the last semester of his previous school year and the following summer to save enough money for it. Even though his family wasn't necessarily poor, Virgil insisted that he would buy the computer from his own pocket. He did not want to put another financial burden on his pops or his sister.

Just when he was enjoying the peace and quiet, his sister walked in and said, "Virgil, I thought I heard a little girl squealing...Oh wait, it was you!" A young woman of 22 years was standing in the middle of his doorway with her hands on her hips. Sharp yet warm dark brown eyes glared into Virgil's back.

Virgil rolled his eyes, glared behind his shoulder at his older sister and snapped, "Shut it Sharon, I'm busy." The younger of the two continued to unwrap the rest of the computer. He placed the monitor on a desk placed in the corner of his room and placed the rest of the computer with it when he was done with the last wrapped piece. Sharon laughed as she watched her younger brother practically drool over his newest piece of technology.

A smile crept onto Virgil's lips as he finally finished setting up his new computer in his room. The young college student had been working for a whole hour coordinating his computer and entering his personal information. Dark brown eyes widened excitedly as he watched his computer reboot and the log in feature appeared on the screen. He clicked on his user icon (which was a chibi cartoon of the Green Lantern, Virgil's favorite super hero of all time) and typed in his password. Seconds later he was greeted by a little melody, and a strange-looking character on the bottom of the right hand side of the screen. It took Virgil a minute to realize this little character was the special feature of the computer.

When he had bought the computer, the dealer had explained to Virgil that it was installed with an A.I., or Artificial Intelligence. The line of computers that the dealer was selling was from Alva Inc. and was one of the most top-notch computer companies in the world. Alva Inc. had created a "smart computer" which enabled the user to interact with its computer through not only through keyboards and mouses, but from verbal commands. Alva's computers were one of the most sought out electronic devices on the market nowadays. To be even around one would make the geekiest computer nerd wet themselves. His computer was a thin, blackish purple computer with a lightening bolt on the backside, and it was custom-built made just for him. The A.I. however....

"Good evening ...How may I assist you?" the A.I. said softly as he looked up at Virgil through the screen.

The A.I. was a pale skinned boy with silky short blond hair. Virgil couldn't tell what his eye color was because there was a strange light green thick glasses in front of his eyes. He supposed the glasses helped the A.I. configure the computer's data. Most of the A.I.'s body was covered in a dark green body suit that covered all of his body to the sides of his face. Electric green lines covered his arms and legs. They shined and made the boy look like he had popped out of a _Tron_ movie. Judging from the looks of him, if he were human, he would be the same age as Virgil.

"Well, this is definitely interesting," Virgil grinned as the A.I. only stood there listening to every word he said. As Sharon walked across the room to stand behind Virgil, a smile graced her lips as she looked at the character on the screen.

"He's cute! I want a computer like this now!" She giggled as the A.I. blushed slightly and rub the back of his head awkwardly.

Virgil rolled his eyes once again and continued to speak to the A.I., "So, you're the A.I. of my computer huh?"

The A.I. nodded, "Correct, I am the living portion of your computer. I was created to do as you command."

Sharon made a impressed noise as Gear opened a window next to him that had all the instructions of Virgil's computer. "So, what's your name?" asked Virgil.

"My name is Gear. I was named by Mr. Alva, my creator." Virgil made a perfect "O" formation with his mouth as "Gear" explained who he was and what his functions were from the window he had opened. "I am to serve as a database for any information you wish for me to store. Also, I may also connect you to other computer systems and enable you to interact with others through a wireless internet system." Virgil nodded as Gear closed the window and walked over to the other side of the desktop to where a file that had a special firewall installed in.

Virgil watched as Gear started to run a scan through the file. He was extremely impressed by how his A.I. had already started to work. "Can I ask you a question, Gear?"

The A.I. stopped and looked up at his user, "Yes Mr. Hawkins, what is it?"

Gear noticed his user's face getting closer to the screen. The electronic being stared in confusion as Virgil stared down at him, amusement gleamed in his eyes. "Rhetorically speaking, what if someone would like to download certain explicit activit---" He was cut off with an extremely hard punch to the head and Sharon glared down at her younger brother. Gear tilted his head to the side as he watched the two humans bicker with each other.

"Virgil Hawkins, you are absolutely NOT downloading porn! Do you hear me!?" Sharon shrieked angrily, "And you are certainly not going to make Gear do it!"

Shielding himself from Sharon's now playful slaps, Virgil cried out, "But I'm grown up! I can download whatever I want!"

"Yeah, tell that to Daddy, or better yet, you can fully explain yourself when you get kicked out of the house for such lewd things!" The two males flinched at Sharon's tone. A soft laughter came from the computer and Gear smiled brightly up at the two.

Sharon crossed her arms and glared at the two of them. She suddenly pointed straight into Gear's face through the screen, "If I catch even the slightest hints of you helping Virgil downloading porn, rest assured, I'll---"

"OK! Annoying sister is going out the door!" The young woman was suddenly being pushed out of the room by her younger brother. Virgil slammed the door in Sharon's face as he finally closed and locked his door. He heard his computer laughing at him as he leaned against his door, listening to his older sister yell at him from behind.

"May I ask? Who was that woman? Was she your mother?" A loud laugh escaped Virgil's lips as he sat down in front of the monitor.

"She's far from it. That's actually my older sister. She's a pain in the ass." Gear nodded and a window suddenly appeared onto his screen. "What's this Gear?"

The blond jumped slightly and smiled, "Oh, it's just a notice saying that your firewall has been will need to reboot your computer to activate it, Mr. Hawkins." Gear suddenly tensed as Virgil frowned, "....Is....Is something the matter sir...?"

"Don't call me that anymore..."

"Don't call you what Mr.--"

"Don't." Gear was becoming very uneasy with Virgil's tone. He didn't want to displease his user, but he didn't know what he had done to make him so--- "Call me Virgil. You really don't need to call me Mr. Hawkins. I mean, you can call my pops that..."

"Pops?"

Virgil blinked, "Oh, my dad....You can call my dad Mr. Hawkins, just please call me Virgil. What your calling me makes me feel so...so old...." A soft laugh escaped Gear's lips.

"Alright Virgil, now would you like me to do anything else for you at the moment?"

"No, it's fine. I'll reboot now to install the updates...Um...Gear...? What happens to you when I turn off the computer?"

Gear smiled as Virgil became concerned, "I'll be fine Virgil. I simply go into Hibernation mode. Sometimes however I will be awake and will be monitoring the computer while you are away and I'll be running diagnostics. So please don't worry, everything will be fine. The new firewall will protect the system from going under attack from a virus." Virgil slowly nodded as Gear started to reboot the computer himself.

"I'll see you in a few Gear, I'll need your help with a paper that I'm writing about the Malbury vs. Madison case."

The blond's eyes widened, "Oh? You're studying law?"

The darker male grinned, "Yep, I'm going to be a lawyer one day. I'll tell you more about it in a few."

"Alright then, bye Virgil."

"Bye Gear."

And the screen went black, the computer had finally shut off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loved it? Hate it? Well then, tell me what you think. Review please! Critiques are welcomed as well. FLAMES WILL BE LAUGHED AT! Special thanks to poisonstripes for being my Beta for me! Love you!


	2. I'm no Superman

:D :D :D You guys have absolutely no idea how happy you have made me. I freaking LOVE you guys! Thank you so much for the alerts, faves and most definetly the reviews! I can't believe that you guys liked my idea so much! :D I'm glad that I can create something different from all the other Static Shock fanfics on here. Hopefully I keep everyone happy from what I'm going to do.

Oh, and for those who are wondering when Francis/Hotstreak is coming in...It's sooner than you think! :D I think you guys will love my idea for Francis.

The title of this chapter was inspired by Scrubs. The theme song I believe is called "I'm no Superman". It suits this chapter very well...

Now, Enjoy the Chapter! This one will go further into Virgil and Gear's friendship. Also, Mr. Hawkins will appear!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chp. 2 I'm no Superman.**

The summer was coming to an end as September was slowly easing into October. Classes had just finally started to become challenging as the second semester of the year came rolling by. Virgil was given homework almost every night and if it wasn't for Gear, he probably wouldn't have gotten such high scores. To think that his computer could be so useful! Gear always had information Virgil needed for his homework and everything the A.I. had produced was a 100% accurate. His homework was being finished in record time of just thirty minutes instead of four hours. Life was GOOD.

Tonight, he had finally had absolutely no homework from any of his classes. He had completed everything that was planned for the week in one single night. Usually on Sunday evenings after Family Night, Virgil would take out his planner and start doing his homework that the teachers had warned him in the previous week that was due the upcoming week. Gear had suggested the idea so that Virgil could be accustomed to a scheduled homework plan and become more disciplined. And of course, Gear was right, as always. Virgil had more time for his family and for himself, and he spent almost every night he could talking to the A.I. in his computer as he browsed the internet checking his Myspace and Facebook.

"So what is this...Myspace...?" Gear softly said as he watched Virgil click on old messages in his inbox through the screen next to him, "Is this a social network? I must say, this is filled with viruses..."

Virgil grinned as he watched Gear stare at the internet window with his Myspace page on it. "You wouldn't believe how many people have one, Gear." The darker male laughed as Gear watched as Virgil clicked on one of his friend's page. In a picture on his friends profile, a girl was wearing a white and black polka doted bikini. The paler of the two tilted his head and frowned, "It's a way to make new friends and to chat with old ones."

"This girl....She barely has clothes on...." Gear shook his head, "What in the world....Do normal human girls usually dress like this?"

"No...Not usually....Her name's Frieda, she's a classmate of is a picture of her at the beach. She just recently posted some of her pictures of her summer vacation. She hasn't had time to do it since shes been on the road so much..." The A.I.'s eyes widened as he learned a new piece of information and nodded. "You see, there are actually good kinds of girls out there...Girls that actually take care of themselves and uphold themselves as ladies. This chick here.... I've...Kinda got a thing for her...." Virgil logged off his Myspace, "But don't tell anyone that."

Gear stared up into Virgil's brown eyes in confusion, "Well, how come you don't tell her?"

Virgil smiled a little, "Because I'm not sure if she likes me back. I'm thinking about asking her to the movies this weekend possibly. Maybe I'll ask her to be my girlfriend if I'm lucky enough." Gear nodded and watched as Virgil logged onto his Facebook and started to talk to Frieda.

After a couple of minutes of sending back replies on his Facebook, Virgil logged off and closed out of the internet completely. He leaned back into his chair and stared at his A.I. with an amused look on his face, "So Gear, is there any girl A.I. you're interested in? Hm?" Virgil leaned down to get close to the screen, making Gear laugh while a perverted look crossed the human's face, "Does she talk nerdy to you and play techno music while trying to get some?"

A loud burst of laughter came from Virgil's computer. He grinned and leaned back as he watched Gear start dying out laughing. It took Gear almost five minutes to finally calm down and he stared up into his masters eyes and grinned, "Virgil, where did you get this ridiculous question from? The movies?"

Virgil shrugged, "...So...Can you guys really...?"

The A.I. sat down on the tool bar on the bottom of the screen, "Well...no...I mean we have the body parts and all, but there really isn't a need for use to...well...use them...So to speak. We cannot create life like humans can." Gear scratched the back of his head, "Normally, the only A.I.'s in Mr. Alva's computers are the C.P.U. A.I.'s such as myself. However, there have been some cases that there are others within the computer system."

This caught Virgil's interest and he leaned in once more, "So there are more of you in my computer?"

"Well...I guess...But I haven't met one yet...There are all kinds of A.I.'s. Certain programs can be A.I.'s such as the Internet can be an A.I." Virgil's eyes widened, "Also, viruses can be A.I.'s, but those are the most deadly. Usually the Firewall takes them out before they can reach any computer system."

Sitting back into his seat, Virgil crossed his arms and said, "What happens if one actually survived the Firewall?"

"It could mean a total and complete shut down of the computer and the death of it." Gear stated with an emotionless look on his face. The darker male was slightly disturbed by how calm Gear was by revealing this piece of information to him, but he supposed that his A.I. had complete confidence that he wasn't about to die any time soon from an A.I. Virus attack. "There's no problem, I'm safe and so is your computer. The Firewall just killed about twenty viruses that was trying to attack the computer."

Grinning, Virgil patted the top of his computer as if trying to pat Gear on the head, "Gear my man, you are some kind of awesome, you know that?"

Said A.I. blushed slightly at Virgil's kind words, "Thank you. You're really nice, Virgil."

"Anytime, Gear. I mean, you've helped me with so much. I don't know what I'd do without you. Seriously, I wish I could do something nice for you in return for all you've done."

Tapping his chin lightly in thought, Gear smiled and he tapped the screen at Virgil, "Oh! Did you buy the newest Plantman issue?" No sooner as Plantman had escaped Gear's lips, Virgil was looking through his shelf in the corner of the room for said issue. Seconds later he returned and he watched the A.I.'s whole being become lighter and happier. "Sweet! Can I read it Virgil? Can I?"

"Sure thing, buddy. Just tell me when to flip the page and I'll do so." Virgil opened the comic book and he heard a cheerful "Yay" escaped through the screen as he pressed the comic book's first two pages against it.

Virgil had learned over the past couple of weeks that his A.I. was a comic book geek just like himself. He had learned this valuable piece of information while reading Plantman issue number thirty two after his homework one night. Gear was running a scan of the computer and was watching Virgil reading it intently and had asked what his user was reading so enthusiastically. The human showed the A.I. what he was was reading and ever since then, Gear had taken a huge interest in comic book heroes.

He was glad that he had someone else to share his love of comic books. It wasn't like Virgil didn't have any other friends, it's just that none of them were into the stories and heroes as much as Virgil. There was one hero that he absolutely worshiped, and that was the Green Latern. No one, in Virgil's book, could compare to his hero, not even Plantman. The young man had dreamed ever since he was little that he would become a hero just like his one day.

"Oh...I love how creative you humans can be! This is wonderful!" Gear excitedly exclaimed as Virgil flipped to the last pages finally. Once Gear had finished reading them, Virgil closed the comic and placed it beside the keyboard on the desk. He watched as his A.I. swayed slightly with a sincere happy look on his face. "I love how the artwork just pops out and reaches for your attention...And the story! Oh, it's to die for!"

"You love comics, don't you?" A chuckle escaped the human's lips as Gear jumped slightly and scratched the back of his head softly.

"Y-Yes...I do..They're...They're awesome...Tell me, Virgil...Are there super heroes in the real world?" The A.I.'s eyes stared deeply into the human's, hopeful and full of child like wonder.

Heroes...He wished there were actual heroes. The world would be in a better place if there was someone to protect it. Like the Green Lantern, or Superman, hell, even Batman... But they weren't real, they were fake, they were fictional. There was no one in the world gifted with special powers. There was no one gifted with the power to swoop in and save the day and save lives. Sure there was the police and the fire department and they saved plenty of lives...But they couldn't save some...

They couldn't save his own mother....

He felt a pressure rise into his throat and Virgil smiled, pain was present in it, however, Gear couldn't quite pinpoint what the strange emotion in Virgil's smile was. He suppose that he could say something to Gear that would give him some hope that the outside world, the human world, was somewhat good. After all, Gear wasn't real, it didn't matter if he told one white lie.

One lie couldn't hurt.

"Sure Gear, there's plenty of heroes. They keep the streets protected and keep the bad guys in jail, like Plantman." Gear seemed satisfied with his answer and smiled brightly.

The A.I. looked down and smiled, "You know...If I was ever real, I would be a super hero." Virgil looked somewhat confused as Gear grinned up at him, "I would save the world with my intelligence. I wouldn't need super strength or anything like that."

Dark lips parted as a laugh escaped, "I always wanted to be a super hero." Virgil curled up his fists and grinned, "I'd always imagined that I'd swoop in, take out the bad guy, save the girl and live in infamy." He flexed his arms and strikes a pose which earned a hearty laugh from Gear. When he was done flexing, he closed in on the screen and stared at Gear's small form through the screen. "We could be a tag team. You and me. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"It's an excellent idea." Both of the males grinned and laughed once more.

The next day Virgil awoke to the smell of Sharon's "special breakfast suprise" and the sound of the television downstairs. The youngest of the Hawkins had spent most of the night talking to Gear about heroes and life in general and didn't get to sleep till three in the morning. If it hadn't been for Sharon, Virgil still would've been awake and talking to the A.I. He slowly rose from his bed, stretched, and yawned at the same time.

Today he had to run some errands for his pops and help out at the center. He enjoyed working with his dad and helping out the kids that often visited there. Virgil was proud to have such a positive role model as a father and he wouldn't trade him for the world. He loved his family over his own life and even though he wished he could trade Sharon for a new sister (he really wished he could), Virgil knew he wouldn't because he knew deep down she geniunely cared for him.

As he made his way downstairs, the smell of Sharon's "special breakfast surprise" got the best of him and he started to gag. Sharon glared fiercely at him as he sat at the table, covering his nose and wincing as his older sister threw out a burnt egg. Virgil looked over towards a pile of food, which looked strangely green for some odd reason...

"Sharon, what in the heck is that?" Brown eyes widened as witness the food slightly moving, "And did it just move!?"

Slamming the frying pan down, Sharon turned her heel and glared into Virgil's playful stare, "Virgil, that is breakfast. It's edible, now shut up and eat." She hissed as she forcibly grabbed the plate with the weird green food and placed it infront of Virgil on the table. She crossed her arms and watched as her younger brother take a long gulp.

"Y-You sure....? M-Maybe you should save this for Adam when he comes over today..."

Sometimes, Virgil hated his sister, no, despised his sister. An evil smirk graced her lips as she placed her hands on her hips, "No, I made this just for you baby brother. Now eat up! You wouldn't want to waste your big sister's slaving---"

God bless him his pops! The older Hawkins had overheard the conversation and intervened right on cue, "Virgil, son, I need you to help me with something."

"OH THANK GOD!" Virgil exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat and rushed towards the entrance of the kitchen to where his dad was. Sharon looked absolutely PISSED that she wasn't granted to torture Virgil. The two men left her alone and she stood there silently fuming. Up above, she heard Virgil cry out, "GIVE IT TO ADAM, HE'LL APPRECIATE IT MORE!"

Grinding her teeth, she grabbed the plate and walked towards the sink. She opened the cabinet beneath the sink where the trash can was and started to scrape the "food" off it into the can. "I'll get you next time..." She evilly grinned. Oh how big sisters are cruel!

Meanwhile upstairs, Mr. Hawkins watched as Virgil turned on his computer for his dad. The older male actually had something legitimate to ask Virgil and that was to check his stocks on the stock market. As the computer came to life, Gear came onto the screen and a smile graced his lips as he greeted both the males.

"Good morning how may I assist you?" Gear said to Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Hawkins looked deeply impressed and he looked at Virgil with an approving nod, "I still can't get over how impressed I am of your computer, Virgil." Mr. Hawkins said as he watched Gear watch them, "It amazes me that technology now a days has advanced to this level. You should be proud of yourself son, you worked hard and this is what you get."

The youngest Hawkins had a proud smirk on his lips, "What can I say? You inspired me pops."

"You know I would've bought you a computer as a graduation present. You didn't have to pay for this out of your own pocket--"

Virgil cut him off quickly, "It's fine dad. I just wanted to save you an extra bill that's all. Seriously, all the hard work was worth it."

Happiness filled Mr. Hawkins as he stared deep into Gear's eyes. Gear patiently waited for him to give a command and finally he spoke, "Gear, could you please look up the information on the stock GOOG?" His eyes widened as Gear opened small windows around him and started to punch in the information presented to him. After a couple of seconds a large window with a line chart and statics appeared.

"The stock GOOG has increased +10.50 this month. It has increased +2.90%. Anything else I can help you with Mr. Hawkins?"

"See? I told you pops, it was totally worth it. Gear's a miracle!" Mr. Hawkins agreed with him and thanked Gear as he clicked out of the window.

The older male turned to face his son and patted him on the shoulder, "You did a fine job picking out a computer. A real fine job. He'll make our lives easier that's for sure." They were both alarmed when Gear gasped. The two humans turned to see Gear clicking and looking at the minature screens surrounding him.

"Gear, what's wrong?" Virgil said worriedly.

The A.I. frantically finished examining the windows and closed them. He looked up at the two users and nodded, "I'm sorry, but something has happened to the Firewall. I must attend to it immediately. Please keep the computer going, I shall be back shortly." A strange, circular vortex appeared behind Gear. It was completely black with neon green spirals and it seemed to suck Gear in and teleported him to some destination.

The Hawkins stared at each other in confusion, neither one of them spoke as Gear left the desktop. Whatever was wrong with the problem, it had worried the A.I. enough to leave. Virgil frowned as Mr. Hawkins started to ask more questions about Gear and the computer. He answered every single one, but for some odd reason, he felt distracted, slightly scared for Gear. He hoped there was nothing wrong...

Hopefully, whatever the problem was, it wasn't that bad.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder what could've happened to the Firewall? What do you think? Well, you're going to have to stay tuned! Please review! Critique if you will, NO FLAMES PLEASE. If you have a question, I will answer in the next chapter! :D


	3. The Firewall

Hello my dearies, it's me again! Just want to say, that with every chapter, I have to give my most sincerest thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts. Hopefully I can continue to type a fanfic that's worth your time and worth the wait.

Now then, as for some of your questions regarding Hotstreak and Ebon....

I'm not going to say what Ebon's role is in the story and I won't say anything about Shiv as well. I think a pretty good majority of you guys already have guessed what Hotstreak is, so I'm not ruining what Ebon and Shiv's roles are. I'll just say that Ebon and Shiv will play a bigger role once the story goes along.

Oh! I think I forgot to mention something. I didn't exactly say what kind of A.I. Richie/Gear is. Well, Richie/Gear is a C.P.U. A.I. So if you were wondering, there you go! Sorry about that! D:

The yaoi shall come soon...Trust me...It will come...Hopefully I can make this work! D: I have absolutely no faith in my work whatsoever...*cries.*

ENJOY.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chp.3 The Firewall**

Once Gear was sucked into the vortex, he was greeted by neon green lights that spiraled into nothingness. This was his usual way of traveling within Virgil's computer system and it was quite useful. He was thankful he was given access to the fastest mode of transportation instead of having to travel through different channels and possibly get lost amongst all the files stored in the database. Though it wouldn't be hard for Gear since he was a C.P.U. A.I., any other A.I. would have difficulty sorting their way through the vast plane of data. Gear had named this method of traveling long ago, and he called it "JUMP".

"JUMPING" was a clean and precise way of traveling. All Gear would have to do was type in the desired destination and a vortex would appear and take him to the area he requests. It was most definitely one of the biggest quirks of being the C.P.U. A.I., however, it didn't beat most of the other features that Gear was programmed with. For now though, the "JUMP" feature was one of the top five on his list.

As the lights started to dim and the vortex was slowly opening once more, Gear drew in a breath as he landed on solid ground. The area around him slowly came into view as the vortex completely vanished into the air.

The area he had landed in was a large, green field that was completely empty with the exception of a large tree in the center of it. It's branches were long and the leaves on the stems were full of life and were a healthy green. Gear had come here many times to relax and sit underneath it while Virgil was away. Sometimes when he was done with diagnostics he would come here and take a nap underneath the large tree.

Gear had discovered this place when he first started to become accustomed to the computer system. He had explored every possible area known to him and this was the most fascinating. This area changed with the time of the day and the weather was always nice and clear. "Clouds" would often grace the "sky" of this area and many times Gear had fallen asleep just watching the weird collection of data float above him. It was peaceful, quiet, and most of all, it was warm.

Though Gear couldn't such things as warmth, he still pretended to feel it.

Today, the weather was like every other day, nice and clear with the few occasional clouds. The C.P.U. A.I. summoned a few windows to him and started to run a program. Suddenly, a large golden transparent wall appeared before him and circled the entire area around Gear and the tree. His eyes widened as he examined the wall.

Never before had he actually seen it in person, Gear had always ran the diagnostics of this computer system from the desktop. He never expected that this program was within this area. He now knew what this area was and for the purpose of it.

This was the area where the Firewall was installed.

A smiled formed on Gear's face as he realized he finally knew what this area was. He slowly closed the windows that surrounded him and reached forward to touch the Firewall. The strange wall was golden and had a few streaks of red shining off it and it was taller than Gear and the tree combined. It glowed beautifully as it proudly stood there protecting the area from any viruses. Gear was deeply impressed by how the wall was built and how sturdy it seemed.

He jumped slightly as a window appeared on the wall and it motioned for Gear's attention. Blueish green eyes scanned through the information on the screen and he read aloud to himself, "New updates are available, C.P.U. A.I. authorization is required."

Gear scratched his chin thoughtfully and he frowned as he looked at the date of the information that was presented to him, "Strange...this date says that it first appeared on the day Virgil had officially turned on the computer...How in the world could I have missed this...?" The screen beckoned him to insert his authorization into a blank below the note. With hesitation, Gear slowly started to type in his information in the blank and entered it.

With the authorization given to it, the Firewall closed the window and slowly started to move. His eyes widened as the space in front of him started to boil and judging from the looks of things, something was slowly starting to melt from the wall. Panic started to rear it's ugly head and the C.P.U. stepped back, waiting to see what in the world was about to come out.

Slowly, something dropped from the wall and started to move away from it. The thing was covered in the wall's golden goo and was trying to scrape the mess off of it. Gear started to back away as the creature started to shake off the mess of the Firewall more violently. It was growing impatient that it still couldn't manage to shake the substance off.

_'Oh man....What in the world have I done? I must have authorized for a virus to come through!' _Gear thought to himself in a panic as he stepped backwards. _'What if there are more coming through the wall? It'll take days to clear this...I have to decode this...thing...' _

Raising an arm above him, Gear summoned a strange light green ball of data. He aimed the ball at the moving creature and released it. The ball directly hit the creature and it cried out in pain as it was about to finally rid itself of the glowing mess. Gear was about to summon another until he was interrupted.

"SHIT!" A pained cry escaped from the goo. Gear eyes widened even more behind his visor and he glared intently at the cussing mass of gunk. Raising his hand again he summoned yet another ball and started to brutally attack the figure. Everytime it was hit it would cuss even more in pain until finally it had stopped moving and stopped screaming.

Slowly, after waiting a couple of minutes, Gear walked towards the thing and knelt down to its level. It had completely became limp and there was no life signs coming off of it. Greenish blue eyes examined the strange corpse and started to record it's features. Then, after he was done with collecting and storing his new information within his memory banks, Gear started to activate his "DELETE" feature.

"DELETE" was one of the most useful abilities that Gear had. It was a defense mechanism that enabled Gear to protect himself from any attack and helped decode unnecessary data within the computer system that Virgil did not want. Gear had shown Virgil it once when he first was exploring the features of his computer. His user was very curious as to what exactly was Gear's abilities. The blond couldn't exactly name every single one of them (because Virgil would be sitting infront of the screen all day) but he named the top five to him.

Neon green circuit lines decorated his right arm as Gear touched the creature. He waited for the thing to start to decode itself, but for some odd reason it wouldn't decode. Gear frowned as he tried once more to "DELETE" the structure but it wouldn't budge.

He was starting to become frustrated as he tried for the fifth time to destroy the body. "Why in the world are you not decoding?" Gear growled to himself as he tried for a sixth time, "I am fully capable of 'DELETING' you...but why in the world won't you decode!?"

"Because I'm not a virus you dumb ass!" A hand shot out of the mess and Gear cried out in shock as it grabbed his glowing hand. The blond shook violently as the thing's hand held him in a death like grip.

Gear desperately started to kick his attacker but it was to no avail. It seemed that it only made the thing angrier. "You know...I just met you and I already hate you!" it hissed angrily and gripped Gear tighter. The A.I. analyzed the strength of this thing and judging from the analysis, if he was human, this thing would have created a large bruise over his wrist.

Such power was dangerous in Gear's mind. He would have tried to decode the creature once more but was interuppted by a digital flame and a loud roar coming from his enemy. Luckily Gear had wrenched his hand free from his attacker before the flame had touched him. If not, his arm would have been severely damaged by the increased overload of "energy" coming off of the thing. Gear's eyes widened as the creature stood, the goo was completely off it and there was no trace of the Firewall's residue on it.

The thing surprised him, hell, made him speechless. What stood in front of him was a man.

This man was extremely impressive looking. Piercing emerald green eyes glared into Gear's. There was an air of defiance that surrounded this man and his whole posture screamed dominance. His well toned muscles were emphasized by the dark red body suit. His outfit was almost like Gear's except for the armor that protected his arms, chest and legs. Everything about this man's appearance screamed deadly but what really captured Gear's attention was his flaming red hair with a touch of blond highlights.

When the man finally spoke, Gear was stricken with a sense of dread,"Oi, Tinkerbell! I know I'm hot but come on! Can you be any more obvious?" The blond shook his head as the red haired man crossed his arms, "Just great, just what I needed! Here I am with a dumb blond who's trigger happy! Shit! You really did a number on me!"

Gear flinched at the red head's sharp tone, "I-I'm s-s-sorry...I didn't know..." He cried out as the other boy reached over and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

"Do you even have any idea who or what I am? Didn't you read the damn package disclaimer when you installed the Firewall?" the red head hissed, "You should have known better that I came with the fucking package!"

"I wasn't notified that you were in there!" Gear exclaimed in a panic, "Look, I can prove it! I swear! I--"

He was cut off rudely, "Save it, Tinkerbell. It's a bit to late to apologize. At least I'm finally free from the wall and I can move about." With a flick of his wrist he let go of Gear and placed his hands on his waist. He glared defiantly down at Gear and smirked as he watched the smaller boy rub his head softly, "Oh quit it. You can't feel it you idiot." His emerald eyes scanned the younger man thoroughly and when he was done he poked the blond's forehead, "So, what's your name, Tinkerbell?"

A frown formed on Gear's mouth, "It's Gear. I don't understand why you keep insisting on calling me that..."

"Because you look like a fairy." A loud laugh escaped the red head's mouth as Gear looked up at him in confusion.

"'Fairy?' What's a 'fairy?' And what's a 'Tinkerbell'?" Gear asked, confusion and curiosity laced in his voice.

Smirking, the red head simply shrugged, "You'll find out sooner or later. You should look the name up, you'll find an interesting answer." Gear nodded as he watched the older looking male cross his arms. He was confused as to why the elder of the two was trying so hard not to laugh.

"So...um...W-What's your name...?"

Immediately the red head stopped whatever he was thinking and scowled, "Oh...Well...I'm Hotstreak. I'm this computer's Firewall A.I." Gear jumped slightly and was about to apologize once more but Hotstreak raised his hand infront of his face and glared once more. Gear could have sworn that if Hotstreak glared anymore that it would become permanent.

"I'm...Well...It's nice to meet you, Hotstreak?" A thick red brow was raised at the C.P.U A.I's hesitant response. Gear fidgeted slightly at Hotstreak's heavy gaze and smiled slightly as he realized something, "Hey! So....That means that I have a new friend now! You must have been bored waiting and I learned a lot of stuff from our user that you would probably enjoy! You see, there's these things called comic books that--"

"Comic books?" Hotstreak scoffed, "What the fuck are comic books?"

Gear jumped slightly but smiled, "Oh! They're the coolest things! Humans created these things where characters are drawn into small packaged books and it's like the characters come to life through each and every page!" Gear explained to Hotstreak, "They're AMAZING! Humans created characters after super heroes like Plantman--"

"You're boring, you know that?" Gear eyes widened as he watched Hotstreak examined the area around him, "Comic books? Are you serious? Who in their right mind would read a comic book? Why read that when you could be doing something else worth your time!"

The blonde tensed slightly and glared. He was a bit offended at Hotstreak's rudeness, "Well, if you're so sure, what do you define as 'fun'?"

Pearly white teeth shone brightly as Hotstreak grinned down at Gear, "Well...One...I like to burn things." He emphasized this statement by summoning a fire into his hand and holding said hand close to Gear's frightened face, "Two, I like to kill viruses...And three, I like to beat the shit out of punks who decide that I'm a damn virus." Gear cried out as Hotstreak drew back his hand and was about to strike.

Gear flinched and closed his eyes. He crossed his arms to shield himself and awaited for Hotstreak's attack...but for some odd reason...it never came.

Slowly, Gear opened his eyes to see a triumphant smirk gracing the red haired A.I.'s lips, "But...Luckily for you, I'm in a damn good mood. So I'll let you go with a warning. Next time you attack me, you'll be finding yourself with an arm, got it?" Gear nodded hurriedly as Hotstreak smirked in approval. "Good, I'm glad we finally established some rules."

"Wait a minute! I'm the one that makes the---" A harsh glare interuppted Gear for whatever he was about to say, "On second thought...I'll just leave that up to you..." Gear laughed nervously and he started to back away, "I...Um...I've gotta go..."

Gear turned to leave but was stopped when Hotstreak grabbed his arm, "Wait a minute, I've gotta mention something about the Firewall to you." Gear stopped and turned around to look into Hotstreaks eyes, "You have to come back and scan the Firewall every week around Friday, okay? The wall needs to be inspected by not only me, but you have to as well. I'll send an update to you when I'm ready to--"

Hotstreak was stopped in the middle of his sentence when Gear smiled, "Don't worry, I come here every day when Virgil is away. I can scan it when I come down here. Besides, it would be nice to talk to someone who is like me once and a while."

The red head let go of Gear and glared, "The fuck I wanna talk to you for? I only asked you to come down here to check the Firewall every week, not ask you to be my damn friend." Hotstreak stated heatedly, "I don't need you to keep me company, Tinkerbell."

The blond's greenish blue eyes flared angrily, "What the heck!? I was just being nice---"

"Save it, Tink. I don't need your damn friendship or..." Hotstreak sneered, "...your damn comic books. Let's get that straightened out." The red haired male turned and walked towards the wall, "Oh, and by the way..." Hotstreak turned towards Gear, "Nice name, it's SOOOO original." He sneered as phased through the wall, not giving Gear the chance to retaliate.

"You....You....JERK! UGH!" Gear angrily summoned a screen and "JUMPED" back to the desktop where his user awaited him.

Virgil frowned as he waited for twenty minutes for Gear to come back. His pops had to run to the center and had allowed Virgil to stay behind and wait for Gear. He was given at least thirty minutes before he had to get off, but he didn't know if turning the computer was a wise idea. So he waited patiently for his A.I. to come back.

Speaking of the devil, Gear appeared to Virgil looking extremely annoyed. Virgil frowned and scooted closer to the screen as Gear glared, "Hey man...is everything alright?"

"Nice name, it's SOOO original!" Gear mocked Hotstreak's voice as he started to pace back and forth across the desktop, "Who in the world does he think he is? What kind of name is Hotstreak anyways! How original is that! Stupid idiotic moron--"

Virgil's face twisted in confusion and he exclaimed, "GEAR!" to catch his A.I.'s attention.

Said A.I. jumped and stared weakly into Virgil's eyes, "O-Oh! I'm sorry, Virgil...I was caught up with the problem I was having..."

"What problem...? Are you alright...?" Virgil frowned deepened as Gear crossed his arms and stared at him with an emotionless look on his face.

"Virgil...What is a 'Tinkerbell'?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

XD TINKERBELLL!!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I hoped you liked this chapter. This was especially hard to type because I wanted to get Hotstreaks personality right and everything like that. I hope I did...Sorry if I'm making Gear all girly and stuff! D: I'm not that good with Gear for some odd reason! Terribly sorry!

But on a note on Gear's personality...

For those who are all like "Why the fuck is Gear so innocent and shit?" Your answer is this: It's because Gear doesn't know much about the human world and the world he lives in. He's innocent of the ways of the world. He'll toughen up in a couple of chapters.

Other Notes:

**C.P.U. A.I**.: Central Processing Unit Artificial Intelligence. Moderates and watches over the whole computer. Runs diagnostics and stuff like that.

**Firewall A.I**: Self explanatory, keeps watch over the defense system in the computer.

Also, I'd like to apologize to my beta Poison-Stripes because I keep posting chapters without her betaing! It's just that, I'm so antsy and I want to post it now! I'm sorry! D: I still love you though! Wah!!!

Please Review and Critique (If you will) FLAMES WILL BE IGNORED!


	4. New Feelings Arise

Um....Yeah...I died a bit...

Sorry about that guys, but I wasn't going to continue until I got to thirty reviews. Also, I started to fall out of the series due to the fact I barely had any inspiration. However, due to the feed back that I've gotten, I've decided that I'm going to continue my fanfic. :) I've gotten into Supernatural (which is the best freaking show EVER!!!) and I'm currently writing a fic called "The Inferno". If you're a Supernatural fan, go and read! PWEASE?

Anyways, please enjoy the next installation of A.I.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 4: New feelings arise.**

An excited squeel escaped Sharon as the phone rang. Virgil frowned as he listened to his older sister run downstairs and answer the phone enthusiastically. He stood before a mirror, tidying his outfit and making sure his hair was groomed to perfection. Tonight was extremely important to Virgil because tonight was the night.

He was going to ask Frieda to be his girlfriend.

Smiling to himself, he finished the final touches to his outfit and turned to his computer where Gear was watching him curiously, "Well....What do you think?"

Gear tilted his head to the side and frowned as he tapped his chin, "So...this outfit...Is a Halloween costume?"

"Yep! Tonight's Halloween!" Virgil grinned as Gear slowly nodded. For this year's Halloween, Virgil dressed as Zoro for Frieda. Frieda was supposed to be some kind of maiden and Virgil wasn't going to miss an opportunity to "sweep her off her feet". He had explained to Gear the night before what Halloween was and what humans normally did that night and Gear had taken all the information well. Virgil was semi worried that Gear would freak out, but it seemed to excite the blond.

"So...this 'Halloween'...Is a holiday where humans walk around in costume to attain candy?" Virgil nodded and confirmed Gear's question. The darker male pulled on his mask over his face and placed his hat on top of his head. The A.I. continued to watch his user posed in front the mirror. "What character are you dressing as, Virgil?"

Dark eyes sparkled mischievously, "Zoro. He's a Spanish hero and the ladies love him." Gear nodded as Virgil sat in his chair in front of the computer, "So...while I'm gone...what are you gonna do?"

"Probably try and convince Hotstreak to come out of the Firewall and actually associate with me." Gear crossed his arms in annoyance and scowled, "He is...What you humans call, a 'jack ass'!"

Virgil chuckled to himself as he watched Gear glare to the side at some icon on the desktop, "So...This Hotstreak...was he the one that called you 'Tinkerbell'?" The A.I. nodded heatedly and Virgil laughed, "Oh man...He sounds hilarious!"

"He's not hilarious! He's a jerk! All he does is try to torch me every time I ask him if he would like to talk! I try to be nice, but he hates my guts! I just don't understand him.." Sighing, the blond shuffled awkwardly, "Hotstreak...is...annoying..."

Shrugging, Virgil lightly tapped the screen above Gear's head. If he could, Virgil would've patted Gear on top of his head out of comfort, "Don't worry, he'll come around. Just give him a peace offering."

This caught Gear's attention. He looked up into his user's eyes and stared in curiosity, "Oh? What should I give him?"

The darker male crossed his arms and thought to himself, "Well...what does he like?"

"Violent things. Things than can burn easily...Beating things up...."

"Ah...Bully material." Virgil tapped his chin. Suddenly, a thought entered his mind and he quickly logged onto the internet and went on YouTube. Gear watched as his user typed in a movie and then looked up at Virgil. "I think that he will like this movie. Can you access this when you're down by the firewall?"

Nodding enthusiastically, Gear selected the URL and stored it within his memory banks. "Alright...So you think he'll really like 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'?" Virgil grinned as he watched Gear close out the internet for him when he was done with the window. He got up from his chair and once again started to view himself within his mirror to see if anything was out of place. Gear smiled, "Virgil, you're fine. Please hurry otherwise you'll miss your party. Frieda would probably be displeased if you make her wait."

Virgil grinned and waved goodbye to Gear as he rushed out of his room to the downstairs. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he rushed into the living room but stopped when he saw Sharon swooning as she talked to someone on the phone. A mischievous grin formed across Virgil's face as he leaned against the kitchen door frame and listened in to Sharon's conversation.

"Yes...." Sharon giggled as she listened to the voice on the other side of the phone, "No...I'm not doing anything tonight...Oh stop it! You're so bad..." Virgil rolled his eyes and continued to watch, "Adam, if I didn't know any better I would think that you're coming onto me!" A bark of laughter escaped the young woman's lips which resulted in Virgil making gagging.

"Please don't tell me you're flirting with that....THING..." Virgil twitched in revulsion as Sharon glared heatedly at him. "I thought that you two were taking a break from each other...?"

Sharon glared even harder at Virgil and returned her attention back to the phone, "Sweetie, can I call you later? Ok...Alright...Bye." She hung up the phone and walked up to Virgil and placed her hands on her hips, "Since when did you but in my business?"

The younger of the two glared heatedly, "It became my business when you started to date that scumb bag. Sharon, what the hell do you even see in him?"

"There's more to him than what you've heard, Virgil." Sharon softly said as she brushed past him.

He watched his oldest sister walk down the hallway and sighed, "You know, I really wish you would find someone else, Sharon. That guy's just gonna bring you down and you know it."

His statement stopped Sharon dead in her tracks, "He's....he's become better....He's improving himself Virgil..." She mumbled, "Adam's matured....And he's thinking more clearly and he's finally getting the recognition he deserves for his music. Adam's gonna be successful and we're going to get married soon."

Adam....Adam was a tender subject between the two siblings. Virgil hated Sharon's soon to be fiance with a passion. The damn man had not only cheated on Sharon, but openly admitted it during an explosive argument a months before Virgil had purchased his computer. Not only that, but Adam had a history with the police and hustling on the streets. His crew called him "Rubberman" for some strange reason and was known as that all around the streets of Dakota.

All the damn guy had was his street cred and his supposed rap career. Virgil would believe it when he saw Adam on the damn screen of MTV or VH1.

Virgil crossed his arms, "So what? After all the crap he's done to you, you're still going to take him back?"

She looked over her shoulder and softly glared at Virgil, "You may not understand this, Virgil, but it takes a real strong person to forgive. I've forgiven him for all the things he's done, but I know I won't ever forget...But what has happened has made our relationship that much stronger." Without another word, Sharon made her way into the laundry room.

Shaking his head, Virgil made his way down the hall to the front door. Without a word he left his house.

_______________________________________________

"You want me to WHAT now?"

Gear smiled weakly as he stared up into Hotstreak's sharp green eyes. Apparently, asking the Firewall A.I. to watch a movie with him was a bad thing because Hotstreak was glaring at him like he had when Gear had first met him. The blond took a deep breath and replied, "It's just a movie, Hotstreak...Just an hour to...well...Spend some time in each other's company."

The red head rolled his eyes and phased through the Firewall, "So let me get this straight...You want to spend some time with me because you feel obligated?"

Gear shook his hands in front of him as he denied the claim, "Oh no no no no!" The C.P.U. A.I. exclaimed, "I just....Well...I thought that there would be something other than fighting off viruses that would interest you...Virgil said that you would enjoy this movie..."

Hotstreak frowned and crossed his arms as Gear gave him a pleading look. He sighed heavily and walked past Gear towards the tree. "FINE. WHATEVER. This had better be worth my damn time or so help me I'm going to spend my quality time kicking YOUR ass."

The C.P.U. A.I. smiled as he walked behind Hotstreak to the tree. Once they were underneath the shade they sat down against the sturdy plant and Gear summoned a screen and inserted the URL into it. A movie screen appeared and the two A.I.'s watched silently as the movie played.

Much to Gear's horror, the movie was absolutely DISGUSTING. There was so much gore in just the beginning scene that Gear wanted to scream. As the movie continued to play, Gear was prompted more than once to scream like a little girl. Hotstreak seemed to be enjoying himself as he watched the murderer drag a woman down a hallway. Said woman lost her fingernails as she was dragged away into the basement.

Hotstreak was laughing the whole movie while Gear was close to a break down. The red head turned his attention to Gear suddenly when the blond had attached himself to his left arm. Gear was trembling slightly in fear as he watched the massacre happened on the movie screen. Hotstreak scowled slightly and returned his attention towards the movie.

After an hour, Gear could honestly say he was scare shitless. He couldn't believe that all those events that happened on screen happened in real life. Hotstreak seemed to not care about any of the actors and enjoyed the whole movie without feeling any remorse. The red head really enjoyed the movie and it made Gear feel somewhat happy that he finally made the other A.I. spend some time with him.

Said red head glared downwards at him, "You can let me go now..."

"What?"

Gear blinked and then realized he was holding onto Hotstreak's arm for dear life. He released his arm and blushed slightly. Hotstreak snickered as the smaller of the two scooted away. "You know...You're not that bad..."

Greenish blue eyes widened and twinkled happily, "R-Really?"

"Yeah..." Hotstreak said slowly. "You're a bit of a wuss, but not bad...and here I thought you were going to wet yourself during the movie, Tinkerbell." He laughed as Gear heatedly glared at him, "What? Did you finally figure out what a 'Tinkerbell' was?"

"Yes I did...And I don't appreciate you calling me a Disney character. Especially a female character." A loud bark of laughter escaped Hotstreak's lips. Gear's glare intensified as Hostreak held his sides in his uncontrollable laughter.

"Man you're such a wimp! I can't believe you!" Hotstreak barked out, "Relax, Tink. Those humans aren't dead..."

Frowning, Gear replied, "But...The victims that actually went through the ordeal died..."

Hotstreak shrugged, "Who cares? It makes one hell of a movie though." He watched the blonde's eyes widen in horror at his admission, "What's the big deal? It's just a bunch of meat bags..."

"Well how would you feel if you were them, hm? How can you say such things about them? Those meat bags created us! If it wasn't for them we wouldn't exist?"

The taller of the two shook his head, "Who gives a shit? Why do you care so much? Is it because of your beloved Virgil?"

"N-No!" The C.P.U. A.I. hesitantly stated.

"Oh! So it is!" Hotstreak grinned victoriously as he jabbed his finger into Gear's foreahead, "So let me get this straight, you care for humans because of this Virgil kid who owns the system we live in?"

"I...I care because he's my owner...." Gear weakly stated.

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, Gear." Hostreak huffed as he stood from the ground. Gear watched him walk away from him towards the Firewall. "Thanks for the movie, Tink. You've got SOME taste..."

Gear arose from his spot and followed the other A.I., "Wait! I'm not done with you!" The red head stopped and Gear bumped into his back. Rubbing his nose he continued, "I want to know why you dislike humans so much--"

"I don't hate them..." Hotstreak states as stares at the Firewall. "I think they're inferior to us...That's all..." His green eyes stared over into Gear's soft ones, "We are superior in the sense that we have an advanced intellect. Besides, they're meat bags, we can exist without a body unlike them."

Gear seemed somewhat unsatisfied with his answer, "But...They gave us our level of intellect...They made us. Truly you jest when you think that we're superio--" He squeeked as Hotstreak roughly turned around, grabbed him and slammed him against the Firewall.

Hotstreak's eyes bore deep into Gear's frightened and enlarged eyes, "You know what? I keep thinking that there's some good in you. But for fuck's sake, you have no faith in our own damn kind? So let me guess? You'd gladly bend over just to please this 'Virgil' just because he's a higher being?"

"That's not it, Hotstreak!" Gear replied slightly angered, "I wouldn't..."

A bark of harsh laughter escaped from Hotstreak's lips, "You're pathetic." Gear was released and Hotstreak moved to his side and phased into the Firewall.

The poor blond stood there staring and leaning against the wall with a saddened look on his face. Strangely, he felt numb by Hotstreak's words and felt that his words hit straight home. With a trembling hand, he summoned a portal and transported himself to the desktop of the computer.

____________________________________________________

Hours later, Gear's attention from a website he was previewing as turned to a very liberated and excited Virgil rushing into his room. An enormous grin was plastered on the darker male's face as he plopped himself on his bed and practically flailing around. Gear walked towards the corner of the desktop to get a better view of the jubilant teen. The A.I. deduced that Virgil had been successful in his attempt to ask Frieda out.

"How did it go, Virgil?" Gear asked and his reply was two thumbs up in the air as Virgil settled down. The human shot up and walked across the room and sat in front of the desktop and watched Gear move towards the center. "So...what happened?"

"Well...." Virgil started, "When I arrived at the party, Frieda was standing around with her friend Daisy and basically doing what girls were doing: gossiping. So I walked over there and chatted with them for a while and listened to and suffered through "girly time" just so that I could possibly get enough time to talk to Frieda..." Gear nodded as he continued to listen to his master's story. "Well, long story short, I asked her when we were doing a slow dance once the party got started."

The paler of the two smiled warmly, "Sounds really nice..."

"Yep!" Virgil beamed, "So now, me and Frieda are officially an item! We gotta celebrate! Could you open up YouTube for me?"

"Sure---" Gear stopped and frowned suddenly as Hotstreak's words began to haunt him. Virgil seemed to notice and his grin turned into a concerned frown.

"Gear? What's wrong?"

The smaller of the two fidgeted uncomfortably, "Um....Do you mind if I ask you something...?"

Virgil nodded and Gear continued, "Do you...um...Are we....friends...?"

"Of course we are." Virgil softly smile, "What makes you think differently?"

In all honesty, Gear didn't know what came over him. He shouldn't have asked his master anything. But what Hotstreak had told him made the blond's core quake in uncertainty. When Virgil had asked him to do the most minor task, Gear obeyed without any questions. To say the least, Gear felt slightly used.

"I....Nothing. It's stupid!" Gear grinned.

Then suddenly, Virgil gave Gear the most sincere smile he's ever seen on the young human the whole time he has known him, "If you were human, Gear...I know for a fact we would be tied to the hip. We'd would be the best of friends."

His answer was perfect for Gear. However, he wouldn't know until later on that what Virgil had said would drastically change his life. That declaration of friendship would soon become an incentive for the A.I. and become his reason for being.

______________________________________________

I'm so, so sorry that it took a whole month for this to come out! I didn't know what in the world to type because I got into a bad writer's block...So yeah...Sorry about that guys!

Please read and review! If you have any questions, please PM me! Also, if you want to contact me other than , please view my profile to see links to my other sites! Thanks you guys! I hope I didn't disapoint!


	5. Hello Neighbor

....So....It's been like....forever since I updated this...? Ha ha ha...forgive me you guys....I've neglected this fanfic for like...forever...

Now that I've got my mojo to write this again, I would like to say that everything that I had originally planned for this fic has changed DRASTICALLY. I've planned everything differently now and I hope that everyone will enjoy this still just as they have in the past! :)

For all those who have stuck by and continued to pray that this is continued, thank you.

And now, without further ado...here is the next chapter!

**Chp.5 Hello Neighbor**

Within the firewall, Hotstreak glared at several graphs containing diagnostics of the entire computer system. He was not pleased with any of this weeks results and he was not pleased that today was Friday. Why exactly was he displeased?

It was because that stupid Tinkerbell came to visit him and try to "befriend" him.

A scowl formed on Hotstreak's lips as he crossed his arms. To him, the CPU A.I. was inferior, a pest that talked. Gear did not share the same beliefs that he did and did not resent the flesh bags as much as he did. He believed that the A.I.'s were superior to the monkey's and nothing the CPU A.I. could say would change his beliefs.

Even though "Tinkerbell" was a source of entertainment, Hostreak was still bored out of his mind. There were no other Firewall A.I.'s such as himself. He was the only one that controlled the Firewall and the only one that had enough intelligence to actually talk to Gear without sounding like a total and complete idiot. Sometimes, even though Hotstreak would never admit this, he would grow lonely without having a fellow Firewall A.I. to talk to.

But that's when the Virus A.I.'s fill the void.

Hotstreak LOVED to kill Virus A.I.'s. Killing them sent a pleasurable pulse though his entire body as he torched one into non existence. He could take on twenty at a time and not even break a sweat. The red head took extreme pride in himself that he had such mastery over his abilities. Anything that Hotstreak could do would put Gear to shame.

Why exactly?

Simple, it's because Gear is a Tinkerbell.

The red head nodded in agreement with this statement. What exactly could Gear do besides try to "DELETE" him? Seriously? Hostreak could take him out with just a flick of his wrist if he wanted to. Why was it that Gear was in charge of the system and not him? There was something extremely wrong with this picture. It should have been Hotstreak that should be in charge of the entire system, not Gear. But unfortunately, Alva decided that Hotstreak was more than capable to be in the position as the Firewall Program.

A growl escaped his lips as a window appeared before him with the image of Gear approaching the wall. Hostreak did not want to deal with the damned CPU A.I. right now and he did not want to hear his stupid stories about his flesh bag of a master. He didn't understand what was so special about some stupid human and his "comic books". It was obvious that Gear would rather hang out with the fleshling than someone of his own kind.

Hotstreak ignored the incoming signal that Gear was summoning him and continued to view the other windows around him. He was waiting for something specific to happen and he would be DAMNED if Gear distracted him from what he was waiting for. The red haired man was rewarded moments later with a signal with an incoming message. A feral grin spread across his face as he stared at the beacon.

Finally, the moment that Hotstreak had been waiting for, had been waiting for for months . Today he was going to do it. He was going to face a worthy opponent.

Today, he was going to fight a true blue Virus A.I.

With a snap of his fingers and a joyful laugh, Hotstreak launched himself out into the confides of the Firewall and into the unknown space of the system to face his foe.

_EARLIER THAT DAY_

Gear softly smiled as he listened to Virgil talk animatedly about his three month date with Frieda and how he and Frieda were planning on a trip for spring break together. The A.I. was delighted that his user was happy and was spending his time with someone he truly enjoyed, however, there was a strange feeling in his chest that wouldn't go away.

He ignored the feeling and continued to listen to his user until Virgil stopped and stared at Gear with concern.

"Hey, Gear...? Are you ok?"

"Huh?" Green eyes stared up into dark brown eyes in confusion. "Yes?"

"What's the matter?" The darker male tilted his head and watched as Gear shuffled under his user's concerned gaze. Sighing, the A.I. sat down on the edge of the screen and stared at his feet as Virgil continued. "You've been acting strange lately. One minute you're fine and the next minute you're in la la land. What's going on?"

Gear frowned at his user's concern. He shouldn't be worrying Virgil, that's not what he wanted. The poor A.I. did not know what to do with the continuing discomfort in his chest and he did not know how to approach the subject matter with the human.

It all started a couple of weeks back when Virgil had made the comment that if he was human that Virgil and he would be the best of friends. He didn't understand how they were not best friends at the moment. Did they not share the same interests in literature and technology? Did they not also share secrets like normal friends do or discuss about their hopes and dreams?

Didn't Gear mean anything to Virgil?

The doubt that Hotstreak had placed in Gear's mind started to slowly eat away at him. He was becoming more and more doubtful of his user and the so called "friendship" they shared. Shouldn't they be friends even though they were of different species? Gear could not comprehend as to why he couldn't be Virgil's friend now.

"I...I'm confused right now is all..." Gear softly said as he looked into his master's eyes. "I believe that I am going through a troublesome time at the moment."

Virgil frowned, "Well, you can tell me what's the matter, Gear. Something must be eating at you 'cause you've been really quiet since Christmas."

Ah yes...Christmas...The one time of the year when the humans celebrate peace on earth. Gear had learned of this event through Virgil when Virgil had received a special type of phone that allowed Virgil to connect to his computer anywhere anytime. Gear, of course, was ecstatic that he could travel anywhere with Virgil and be with him at any time, but as time passed by, a pain in Gear's chest started to form. Since then, the pain had grown into a discomfort that would make itself known when around Virgil.

This problem had confused Gear greatly because A.I.'s were not supposed to feel anything physically.

Gear had deduced that the growing pain had been possibly from a virus and he decided that today he would go to Hotstreak and demand a scan of his "inner core".

"Well...Hotstreak and I have been having a hard time getting along lately..." Gear weakly grinned as Virgil slightly nodded. "and I have been trying awfully hard to become friends with him, but alas, he doesn't seem to appreciate anything I do. His superiority complex is getting on my last nerve...I don't know what to do."

A small smile formed on Virgil's face as he watched the A.I. look up to him with a questioning gaze. "Well, Gear. There are all kinds of people in the world and sometimes there are people who are not easily satisfied with their lives." Gear nodded and listened intently as Virgil continued, "One thing I've learned about people is that you can't satisfy everyone or anyone completely. Everyone has got their problems, Gear and Hotstreak seems to be a train wreck." Both of the boys laughed at his statement. "Listen, I think that if he's just been beating you up most of the times that you visit him that you shouldn't be his friend. Just be associates and nothing more." Virgil grinned as he leaned back into his chair. "Besides, you've got me! Who needs a douche bag like him anyways?"

Gear frowned and stood up. "But...it would be nice to have someone who is like me to talk to. I mean, I am an A.I. after all and you are a human. You must get tired of talking to me all the time..."

"Are you kidding me? I don't mind talking to you at all!" Virgil closed in to the screen and stared at Gear right in his face. "Do you realize how many times I've come home early just to spend time with you? How many times I've rejected an offer to go out with my other friends just to hang out with you? Dude, you're the best friend I could ever have. All my other friends don't compare to you."

Euphoria erupted inside Gear's core and the A.I. stared into Virgil's eyes with the happiest look on his face. "R-Really? I...I guess I hadn't noticed...Thank you, Virgil..."

"No problem, Gear. Now then, I've gotta get ready for my date tonight." Gear gave him a thumbs up and wished him good luck as the human proceeded to get ready. For a few moments, the A.I. watched as Virgil was yanking shirts out of his closet and tossing them to the side of the room if they did not meet his requirements for the night's activities. He often wondered what it would feel like to actually wear human clothes instead of wearing the skin tight suit that was a default for all A.I.'s.

Gear thought of many things nowadays, many of these thoughts revolved around what it was like to be human.

A warm smile formed on Gear's lips as he pondered the subject. If he was human, he would go venturing around the world and explore every place known to man. He would go shopping for comics and wear normal human clothes and most of all...  He would be able to be Virgil's friend and go anywhere with him.

Don't get him wrong, technically now with Virgil's new phone, Gear could go anywhere with Virgil. What Gear wanted was to be able to physically go with Virgil and do normal human things with him. The blonde A.I. had composed a huge list as to what all he had wanted to do if he was human and the most important ones were with Virgil.

Sadly, his dreams of becoming human would never come true. He wondered if Hotstreak had mistaken in naming him Tinkerbell when he should've named in Pinocchio.

What? So Gear liked to watch Disney films? Big deal, he wouldn't tell Hotstreak that though. It was embarrassing enough to be called Tinkerbell let alone admitting he's watched a good deal of Disney movies while Virgil was away and he had nothing to do.

He didn't even notice that he had said goodbye to Virgil and watch the human leave the room. He didn't even realize that he had been alone in his train of thoughts for about thirty minutes until he received a message from the Firewall saying that it was due to be updated. An exasperated sigh escaped Gear's lips as he "JUMPED" to Hotstreak's plane.

Who knows, maybe today would be the day that Hostreak would finally be nice to him?

_NOW_

"Hotstreak? Hotstreak come on! It's been a freaking hour!" Gear angrily pounded his fist against the Firewall's wall. The blonde A.I. had been patient with Hotstreak and waited for the other to appear before him but there had been no signs of Hotstreak anywhere. Slowly, Gear backed away from the Firewall and formed a window in front of the window. "Fine, you want to act this way, then I'll FORCE you to come to me." He punched in a few commands and waited.

Fortunately and unfortunately for Gear, Hotstreak appeared before him but not by the commands he had punched into the window. Instead, Hotstreak literally busted through the Firewall and landed at Gear's feet. The CPU A.I. gasped in shock as he stared down at a damaged Hotstreak and an equally damaged Firewall. Hotstreak was moaning softly and his body was chipped in several places. Gear quickly kneeled down and tried to assess Hotstreak's damage but was quickly distracted by a figure walking through the Firewall and towards the two A.I.'s.

"Identify yourself!" Gear shouted at the figure as he clutched Hotstreak's unconscious body close to him. The figure stopped a few feet away from them and merely grinned down at Gear.

The stranger was clad in a dark purple, skin tight body suit with purple electronic lines running all over his body. His hair, spiked like Hotstreak's, shined lavender under the false sunlight of the realm. Wild yellow eyes stared down into Gear's soft green eyes as the stranger bowed formally to him.

"Well, hello there neighbor!" The purple haired A.I. greeted the CPU A.I. with a bow and a cheshire grin. "I do hate to bother you, but you see, I'm lost! And this mean fellow decided to attack me when I had tried to ask for directions!"

Bewildered and without looking, Gear pointed down to Hotstreak which received a nod from the strange purple haired man. "Um...Where exactly are you going to...?"

The purple haired man giggled happily as he straightened up and shuffled his feet coyly. "Wwwwwwweeeeeelllllll...Let's see...I was heading from this little get together with some friends in another computer system and I just happened to hear about this awesome computer system with this awesome computer program and well...I got lost!" The man pouted, "Now I'm all alone with no one to look out for me and this big scary dragon came out of no where and attacked me! I didn't do anything and the big fat meanie just scared lil ole me! Oh please won't you help me out!"

Gear just stared as the man stared at him with puppy dog eyes. He had never encountered anyone so dramatic or rambunctious as this fellow. However, he needed to figure out the fellow's intentions before he gave any information.

"Hmm...I will if you will tell me who you are and where you're heading." Gear gave the man a friendly smile and was given one in return.

"My apologies! My name is Shiv and I'm trying to find a computer system known as BRANIAC."

DUN DUN DUN!!!!! :D Can you guess what Shiv is? Well I think you can. You guys are extremely smart. Anyways, review please! I appreciate it!


End file.
